


let it slip (can't keep a secret)

by tealady19



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Shiro Birthday Week 2020, Surprise Party, Team as Family, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22940305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tealady19/pseuds/tealady19
Summary: Shiro doesn't quite catch the meaning, but Allura’s head snaps up and Keith’s back goes suddenly tense under his arm. It feels the same as that time last week in the conference room. Worried, Shiro rubs his other arm and presses a kiss to his temple. Allura's eyebrows catch his attention as she moves them in a complicated pattern in Pidge's direction.Ducking down to whisper in Keith’s ear, Shiro says quietly so the others don’t hear him, “I think Allura’s spending too much time with Lance if she can communicate exclusively with eyebrows too, now.”  Keith snorts softly, his lips starting to turn up at the thought, and Shiro presses a wet kiss to his cheek.The Paladins are up to something, but Shiro notices Keith isn't as excited as he pretends to be.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 101





	let it slip (can't keep a secret)

**Author's Note:**

> I've looked at this one too many times to know if it's any good any more, but! here's an offering for my favourite boy's birthday.
> 
> This sort of fills both days 6 and 7 for the Shiro Birthday Week, but tomorrow is busy, so here it is today!

It’s morning on the Atlas, which, despite the early hour, Shiro actually really likes. He’s not usually a morning person, though he’s forced himself to be for the majority of his life, but having these few quiet moments with Keith before they start their days is rejuvenating.

He’s brewed them black tea this morning, since they don’t have a lot of time before the morning meetings, and he can’t take the time to enjoy green tea and miso soup like he does when his shift starts later. He’s running low on sencha anyways, and the black tea supply is still pretty strong.

Keith stumbles through the door from the bathroom as he’s placing the mugs on the little table in the kitchen of his Captain’s quarters, falling into his seat and blinking blearily up at Shiro as he sits opposite. He smiles though, picking up the mug and holding it in front of his face like he can absorb the caffeine through proximity alone. Shiro just laughs at him and slides his plate closer.

They don’t talk, but Shiro watches as his love fully wakes up, eyes brightening with each sip, lips curling into a soft smile as he catches Shiro staring. It’s because he’s looking so closely that he notices it. It’s still early, but he sees Keith’s thoughts shift and-

Keith is up to something.

He’s got that too innocent look on his face that he’d learned from Shiro himself, especially in the way he raises his eyebrows over his tea. His braid is still mussed up from sleeping in it, and his shirt is half falling off his shoulder. He’s beautiful, and part of Shiro still can’t believe he took so long to tell him that.

But, that’s beside the point right how. Keith’s hiding something.

“I’m on to you,” he says mildly, biting into his slice of peanut butter toast. Keith's eyebrows shoot up and his mouth falls open a little. Shiro munches his toast and stares him down, trying to hide his smile.

“I- what? I didn't do anything!” Keith's protesting, but he's starting to smile too, and is less good at hiding it than Shiro.

He hums, the man across the table from him putting on a mulish expression that's much too serious for this early in the morning. Shiro's quick to laugh it off, placate him, but he spots a glimmer of relief in Keith's eyes when he changes the subject, and isn't that interesting?

***

Lance has a _terrible_ poker face. Veronica once confided in him that she and their older brothers had convinced a five year old Lance that bluffing with a haughty facade was the best way to keep someone from finding out about a secret, and he hadn’t quite been able to shake the habit by the time he'd been old enough to realise the truth.

Right now he’s sitting at the conference room table, and a few seats down on Shiro’s left, but there's a hint of a smirk on his face that all the paladins have agreed means ‘up to something’. None of the other paladins have arrived yet, save for Keith on his right, and he’s actively avoiding Lance’s waggling eyebrows that he sends in Keith's direction when he thinks Shiro isn't looking.

Keith seems a little on edge today, however. No matter how far their friendship may have grown, Shiro knows Lance can still grate on Keith’s nerves, especially if he's already anxious or unsure about something. He hasn't mentioned anything yet to Shiro, but he can see the line of tension in his shoulders get worse. He trusts Keith to be able to sort out his team when they need it, and also to come to Shiro when he needs to talk or has something on his mind, but he can also provide back-up to his partner when he’s worried or struggling. And teasing Lance is a top favourite Paladin Pastime, previous and present paladins included.

“Hey Lance, are you feeling okay?”

Lance looks at him, a particularly guilty expression on his face that he tries to hide under a goofy grin. “Yeah, Shiro, I’m good. Cool, even. Cool as a cucumber! I’m living my best life right now!”

The fact that he starts babbling the longer Shiro stares at him is a direct indication that something is, in fact, up. He digs a little deeper.

“Oh, well, that’s great. I thought because your eyebrows looked like they were going to fly off your forehead faster than Red could accelerate, maybe there was something you wanted to add to the meeting agenda? Or we can talk about it now if that’s better.”

Lance freezes at that, his eyes going almost comically wide, mouth dropping open. Shiro’s not sure if it’s because he’d called him out, or if he genuinely wasn’t expecting him to say that, but the look on Lance’s face is worth it. Unfortunately, Keith’s tensed further, and while Shiro would love to weasel even more out of Lance, the hunched spine of his other half spoils the fun. He sends his Altean hand to rub his back, increasing the temperature a few degrees to be warm and soothing. Shiro flips back to the current agenda on his datapad, dropping the subject, and that more than anything seems to have Keith relax. Lance seems to have stopped the eyebrows, and Hunk’s arriving with breakfast pastries for the team, Allura taking her seat between Shiro and Lance and sliding each of them a coffee.

Keith’s relaxing the more he strokes up and down his spine, warmed fingers tangling in the baby hairs at his nape, but he hasn’t turned around to look at Shiro, choosing to keep his attention on the Galran root tea Hunk had brought him. But there is a faint dusting of red on his ears where his hair falls around them.

Suspicious.

***

Shiro wonders if Hunk learned how to keep a secret from Lance. He’s definitely looking a little shifty as he flits around the kitchen, and he keeps giving Shiro a weird wide-eyed look during parts of their conversation. Shiro’s supposed to be helping in the kitchen, which he _can do_ , thanks, he just needs to.. concentrate. It’s not his fault if he forgets the oven is on or he lets the pasta boil a little too long. He’s a deft hand with a knife though: Hunk was actually impressed with his julienne, which is no small feat.

He’s chopping.. he’s not actually sure what he’s chopping, but he thinks it’s a root vegetable? It’s lime green, though, and smells vaguely floral, but it’s hard like a carrot and with tiny soft seeds that glint in the overhead lights. He’s chopped so much of it that he can’t imagine Hunk is going to use all of it, but maybe he’ll make cakes or something? Like zucchini bread?

Shiro pops a thin strip in his mouth and has to fight not to spit it out. It’s _sour_.

“Haha, oh man, that’s a good face!” Hunk’s looked over and just the right time, apparently. “You gotta wash the cut strips in sugar water if you want to eat it raw, that tempers the sourness. Like rhubarb!”

Shiro’s raising his eyebrows, having only ever eaten rhubarb maybe once, and that was in a pie mixed with strawberries and so sweet his grandfather had left the rest of it to him. He can’t imagine eating it raw if it tastes like this.

“Why do you want so much of it then?” The pile is literally towering beside him, one swift breeze (or a door slam) and it’ll slide right off the bench.

“‘Cause of all the cakes and appetizers we gotta make for the- uh.. the, the commissary! They want to try out some new food options!” Hunk’s eyes go wide and he’s looking over Shiro’s left shoulder rather than at his face.

“The commissary, huh? Last I heard they were pretty stuck in their ways of unidentifiable masses that may or may not be food goo. You’ve been trying to get something fancier than mac and cheese or sloppy joes for months.”

Hunk looks towards the ceiling and Shiro gets the sense that he’s started him down a tangent that won’t run them back to the thread of their conversation for a while.

“ _Listen_ , okay, I don’t understand why every space-faring civilization in the entire galaxy seems to think that food goo is the answer to their deep-space nutrition problems, because believe me, my friend, it is not. There is literally no reason for us to eat whatever that is when we have a bountiful hydroponics bay - thank you Mrs Holt - and we stop off at Coalition planets regularly! We can restock! It’s ridiculous-”

“I believe you!” Oh no, what’s he started.

“-that we have to go planet to planet and eat mush when there are so many flavours in the universe we could be learning about! Each planet has their own culinary history, Shiro! We could be exploring that!”

“I know!” Hunk looks like he might shake him, and Shiro puts his knife down just in case he can’t let go of it fast enough. The clatter of it seems to pull his friend back to his senses though.

“Woah, haha, sorry bud,” Hunk rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “I guess I’ve got some feelings about that.” He looks a little sheepish, but not like he’s going to start ranting again.

“No worries,” Shiro smiles back at him. “I’ll suggest some things to the commissary, I should be able to say what happens on my own ship, right? And I can let them know to expect.. a bunch of cakes too. What with all this I’ve been chopping.”

Hunk looks excited right up until the mention of cakes, and then his eyes go wide and his smile strains. “Oh, uh, no need for that, I already- told them! Yes. They’re expecting them.”

That’s definitely weird, but Shiro’s going to let it go. For now, anyways. The paladins do all have their quirks.

***

Pidge and Allura have been working together for the last few weeks on “experiments” that have something to do with quintessence and maybe engines and Shiro might have heard the term “warp speed” tossed around once but he’s trying not to get his hopes up. He does _not_ need to be outed as an even bigger nerd than he already is, and Pidge will tease him mercilessly about anything (including his _Star Trek_ addiction) like she isn’t a massive nerd in her own right.

Keith is perched on a stool to the left of Allura’s station, scrolling through his datapad when Shiro walks in the door to their lab. He looks up and smiles, and Shiro has the sudden urge to blow him a kiss, but Pidge is watching with her eagle eyes and she’ll roast him if he does. He does it anyway; Keith’s pleased blush is worth it.

“ _There_ you are. Listen, we’ve been looking at engine capacity and running some diagnostics-” Pidge tugs him over to her screen and starts rambling about equations and hypotheses and Shiro catches about every other word, which is pretty impressive, all things considered. He does have to know how engines work though, since he was responsible for the ship on the way to Kerberos. There’ve been some changes since way back then, but the basics are similar.

“-and we're using Keith’s quintessence sensitivity as kind of a double check to make sure the quintessence stays, uh, _in line_ I guess is the best way to put it. That's why he's at Allura’s station.” She waves her hand over at the two of them, which mostly just serves to catch them trying not to laugh at something on Keith’s datapad.

Pidge stares at them, but neither have caught on yet. Shiro's okay with that because he doesn't always get to see Keith's cute little smile, obviously amused at whatever they're watching. Allura’s tucked up close beside him to see the small screen, one hand covering her own smile.

Pidge sighs. “I _said_ , the quintessence? And the engines? Are you two even paying attention?”

The other two paladins jump, jerking up with sheepish expressions.

“I'm sorry, Pidge,” Allura apologises. “Keith was showing me, um.” She looks at him for a moment, searching for the word.

“Rabbits,” he answers, tossing Shiro a glance because of _course_ Shiro wants to see bunny videos. He's crossing the room before Pidge can protest, but she throws her arms up in the air regardless.

“Well, I'll just keep working, I guess. If the Atlas just falls apart, don't blame me.”

Shiro slides an arm around Keith's back, biting his lips at the grey lop-eared rabbit currently working through a miniature jump course on the screen. It's too cute.

“I hope you guys can pay more attention to your surroundings when he comes in later.” Pidge mutters into her control screen.

Shiro doesn't quite catch the meaning, but Allura’s head snaps up and Keith’s back goes suddenly tense under his arm. It feels the same as that time last week in the conference room. Worried, Shiro rubs his other arm and presses a kiss to his temple. Allura's eyebrows catch his attention as she moves them in a complicated pattern in Pidge’s direction.

Ducking down to whisper in Keith’s ear, Shiro says quietly so the others don’t hear him, “I think Allura’s spending too much time with Lance if she can communicate exclusively with eyebrows too, now.” Keith snorts softly, his lips starting to turn up at the thought, and Shiro presses a wet kiss to his cheek.

The atmosphere is still a little awkward in the lab for a few minutes, but the more Shiro ignores it, the more it seems to go away. It’s suspicious, sure, but if something’s up, he trusts Keith to tell him when he’s ready. A perky black and white spotted rabbit is starting the jump course on the screen and Shiro needs to see this.

***

“I know you don’t like surprises,” Keith says, apropos of nothing one evening as he sits down heavily beside Shiro on the sofa in his Captain’s quarters. The wolf flops at their feet with a huff. Shiro looks up at him, sees the way he’s twisting his hands together in a display of nervousness that he _never_ sees from Keith anymore, and sets his datapad aside immediately.

“Babe, what is it?” He takes Keith’s hands in his, soothing over his fingers and the tendons on the back of his hands. “You’re shaking.” He knows Keith’s been up to something the last few weeks, but this is concerning.

“Ah,” Keith ducks his head, sheepish. “I think I’ve worked myself up about it, it’s not actually that big of a deal.”

Shiro’s worried now, though. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to tell me anything if it’s making you this upset. It’s what’s been bothering you these last few weeks, right?” He takes one hand away to brush Keith’s bangs back from his forehead, leans over to plant a kiss there. “It is a big deal if it’s affecting you like this.”

Keith sighs, his breath warm on Shiro’s neck. “It’s just, they wanted it to be a surprise, but I know you don’t like surprises, and I don’t want you to get hurt if they like, jump out at you or something, but..” He pauses, looks up to meet Shiro’s worried eyes, and then takes a deep breath.

“We’re having a party for you tomorrow night in the paladin’s common room.”

Shiro blinks. That’s nowhere near what he’d expected Keith to say. “What?”

“The others thought it’d be more fun for it to be a surprise, since it’s special this year, but it kept bothering me that you didn’t get a say, and-”

“Keith, you’re rambling.” Keith’s mouth snaps shut with a click, and he huffs a laugh, a blush rising to his cheeks.

“I told you it’s not really a big deal. I just.. wanted it to be good for you. I was really excited at first and then I got tied up in knots whether you’d like it or not. It’s important, this year.” His fingers lace through Shiro’s as Keith turns his big, dark eyes up to his face. Shiro smiles back down at him, his beautiful, considerate partner, but thinks he’s lost something in translation.

“Baby, what are you talking about? What do you mean a pa-” Shiro cuts himself off as he realises: the date. It’s the end of February.

Keith stares back at him. “Shiro.” Shiro feels his face start to redden pre-emptively at Keith’s admonishing tone. “You better not have forgotten your own birthday.”

The blush spreads across his cheeks like wildfire, and he buries his face in his hands. “Oh my god.”

“Shiro, no! God, you work too hard, I can’t believe this.” Keith sounds like he’s about to start laughing at any moment. While he’d prefer not to be the butt of the joke, Shiro’s glad Keith is smiling again. He uncovers his face, but avoids looking at Keith to instead tip his head back and stare at the ceiling like it has all the answers. He sighs.

“Please never tell Lance.”

That’s enough for Keith to break, and he dissolves into relieved giggles.

“I was so nervous about this!”

Shiro reaches one hand out to draw him closer, leans Keith’s head on his chest as they fall back on the couch in a tangle. “Glad I can reassure you, baby.”

The wolf takes advantage of their newfound proximity to lick up the side of Shiro’s face and straight into his mouth. Shiro sputters, but they’re both laughing too hard at this point to push him away too far.

Keith presses a kiss to his t-shirted chest as they calm down, Shiro’s Altean fingers stroking their usual path up and down his spine. His voice is soft and a little raspy when he says, “I’m not sure what to tell the others now. They’re all expecting a surprise, especially Allura and Coran. They were fascinated by the idea of a surprise party.”

Shiro’s silent for a little while, an idea forming in his head. He keeps stroking, and feels Keith start to go boneless against him, his long lashes sweeping closed. Shiro gets a little lost as he maps out the beauty on Keith’s face: his silky brows and large eyes, the high crest of his cheekbones dotted with freckles. They’re faded almost to invisibility with so little sun exposure in space, but this close, Shiro can see them. They travel across the bridge of his nose and disappear on to the other cheek smushed into Shiro’s chest.

His hair falls in slight curls around his neck, most of it held back in its usual braid. He’d reach up to trace the shell of his ear with his left hand, but it’s trapped between their bodies and the back of the couch, and he’s got a solid hold on Keith’s hip that he doesn’t really want to break. Sometimes he thinks Keith’s ears have a slight Galra point to them, but other times it looks like a trick of the light. They’re perfectly Keith-shaped, he thinks, besotted, and then realises that he’s gotten a little off track. They were talking about a surprise party.

“We could still have it be a surprise,” Shiro murmurs, picking up the thread of inspiration again. “Just, maybe not a surprise for me.”

Keith opens his eyes and looks up to meet his, quirking a brow. “What are you thinking?”

Shiro hums, smoothing his metal thumb over Keith’s eyebrow, letting his fingers curl around his jaw. “Nothing too much. It’d be bad if we avoided a PTSD-related incident for me only to cause one for someone else.” The typical ‘surprise party’ shenanigans like party poppers or shouting or suddenly flicking on the lights is out of the question. “But I think we can still surprise them.” He traces the shell of Keith’s ear, leaning in to spell out his idea.

***

The 29th of February dawns as an entirely normal day on the Atlas. They’re travelling between systems, so there aren’t any diplomatic meetings or people to entertain, which Shiro is grateful for. He gets to take those few extra minutes in bed admiring Keith’s beauty beside him, and then when they make it to the kitchen they indulge in the sencha and miso soup that Shiro’s been looking forward to for the last few weeks.

Keith smiles at him across the table and they share a salty kiss that becomes a few more, and then Keith’s climbing into his lap for a solid ten minutes of making out at the kitchen table before they have to rush out the door to their first meeting, laughing.

They’re late anyways.

Most of the people aboard the Atlas don’t know it’s Shiro’s birthday, and that’s exactly the way he likes it. He’d kept it a secret from as many people as possible at the Garrison, and now that he’s somehow even more famous, he likes to keep this tidbit of personal information close to his chest.

Still, he gets a clap on the shoulder from Iverson, and hugs from Veronica and all the Holts on board. Sam squeezes him extra tight, with a soft “happy birthday, kiddo,” and Colleen kisses both his cheeks while he stammers out thanks with a red face. All the paladins, plus Coran and Romelle quietly wish him a happy birthday, doing an excessively bad job of hiding the fact that they’ll be throwing him a party later that afternoon. He shares a look over Pidge’s head with Keith, biting his lips and trying not to smile as Keith has to look away or risk laughing out loud. He masks it by sending a scathing remark in Lance’s direction, and laughs at his reaction instead.

There’s a few meetings to get through, and then lunch with Keith, which is always a treat. He’s not sure who managed to make sure today is mac and cheese day in the commissary, but he’s forever grateful. Keith just shakes his head as Shiro makes his way through two servings, a blissed out look on his face with each bite. “You’re ridiculous,” is all he says.

Iverson excuses him from afternoon duties after a three hour stint on the bridge, and Shiro makes a beeline for his quarters for some quiet. Keith seems to have finished early as well, and they spend a while lying on the couch, kissing slowly, and making sure to keep an eye on the time as it grows towards evening. Kosmo’s lying at their feet, his preferred spot, and Keith trails a hand through his fur as he lies on Shiro’s chest. Shiro’s got a hand in Keith’s silky hair too, relishing how relaxed his partner is against him.

“So, we should be good to go any time now,” Keith’s already whispering even though they’re in Shiro’s living room. There’s no one to hear them both in there.

They’ve got the wolf on board, which is a stroke of luck because Shiro’s really not sure how they’d manage to get into the paladin’s common room unnoticed. Keith is going to walk in the main doors, let them know Shiro’s just a few minutes behind him, an officer having stopped him to ask a quick question. Kosmo will pop in while the others are distracted watching the door, with Shiro hiding behind him. It’s also lucky that the wolf is big enough now for this to work. Shiro reaches down and strokes his hand through staticky blue fur, preparing himself to get off the couch. He’s excited to see their friends, but he loves the quiet space when it’s just him and Keith.

With a groan that makes Shiro think Keith is feeling the same, the other man pushes himself up, stretching his arms above his head and giving Shiro a peek at his taut belly. Keith dances away before Shiro can get his lips on it though, laughing.

“Okay, really, we should go. The others should already be there, and I told them I’d bring you in about ten minutes, so we should get going.” They’re already in casual clothes, so Shiro gets up with a groan and a stretch of his own, winking at Keith when he catches him staring. It’s the work of minutes to get his hair styled properly and to throw on a nicer sweater, and Keith is standing by the door when he emerges.

“Kosmo knows when to pop you in, so just hang out with him here for a bit, okay?” Shiro smiles at him in return, angling Keith’s face up for a kiss.

“I got it,” he whispers against his lips. “See you soon.”

With Keith out the door, Shiro takes a few minutes to surf around on his datapad, and makes sure it’s on silent so there won’t be any messages that give him away. The wolf noses at his cheek soon after - it’s time to go.

In a blink, the scenery changes: Shiro’s crouched between the wolf and the back wall of the paladin common room, and all the others are looking expectantly towards the door. Pidge and Hunk are whispering, Allura looks excited, and he catches Keith’s little smirk where he sees him tucked behind an alcove with his mom, who’s made it on board just in time for the party. Krolia flashes him the same sly grin; either Keith let her know, or she figured out the game on her own. She won’t give them away though, Shiro knows she enjoys teasing the others as much as Keith does.

“Dude, you said he was right behind you?” Lance whisper-yells in Keith’s direction. Shiro creeps up a little closer, silent on his feet and using Kosmo as distraction in case anyone looks over.

“Uh, yeah, he’ll be right in. Just be patient.” Keith rolls his eyes but Shiro can hear the threads of laughter in his voice as he struggles not to give them away. He’s tempted to make a face at him but wants to see how long he can play this. He creeps a little closer to Lance, honestly surprised no one else has noticed anything yet.

“If you say so. You gotta figure out what’s up though, he’s your man.” Keith scoffs at Lance to cover up the bark of laughter he lets slip through, and Shiro bites his lip again before composing himself and calmly suggesting,

“We’ll give it three more minutes and then we’ll send Keith to go find him.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea- aaAAHHHH!” Lance screeches, falling over onto the floor, as the others jump, whipping round to see what’s happening.

“Surprise!” Shiro shouts, smiling wide. Keith is laughing out loud now, but the wolf joins in with a howl. The others are in various states of uproar, laughing and shouting and smiling.

“What!” Allura laughs, one hand pressed to her chest as she’d startled, turning around. “I thought we were surprising you!” She gets up from behind the couch, though, and skirts the wolf to throw her arms around his neck. Shiro laughs as she squeezes him, hugging her back tightly too. He feels Pidge weasel her little arms around his waist, and then Hunk is pulling the others into a group hug that makes Shiro feel so warm. He’s smiling so much as they part that his cheeks are starting to hurt.

He gets hugs from all the paladins and Holts and Coran and Romelle and Krolia. She runs her claws through his hair and gives him a kiss on the temple before pulling back. “I’m glad I made it back in time to see you today. Happy birthday, Shiro.”

He smiles back at her, but before he can say anything else, Lance is getting everyone’s attention by standing on an ottoman and shouting. “Okay! We’ve got presents, we’ve got food, we got a surprise, though that was a little different.” Keith snorts, at the disgruntled look on Lance’s face. “And I think we’re ready!” he continues. They make Shiro sit in the centre of the couch and ply him with food and drinks until he’s worried he won’t have room for any more.

Hunk pulls out a huge cake with seven candles on it, and they all clap when Shiro manages to blow them out at the same time. He can hear Coran asking what the significance of the candles is, and why seven? Lance is giving him an answer, thankfully, so Shiro concentrates on the taste of cake, the laughter of his friends and family, and the feel of Keith’s warm body snug beside him.

“You’ve got- ah,” Keith starts, but at Shiro’s raised eyebrow just smiles and takes matters into his own hands, like usual. He turns Shiro’s head towards himself, leaning in to kiss a smudge of icing from the corner of his mouth.

He can feel his nose crinkle with the force of his smile, and somewhere a camera is clicking to capture the moment. Shiro’s got the memory locked in his heart forever though - it’s been the best birthday he’s had in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> You can come and scream with me about how Shiro deserves literally everything on twitter: [thimblee](http://www.twitter.com/thimblee)!


End file.
